Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms!

This week, my guest is Loren Berry, a woman who wears many hats within the zoo and aquarium field! A former zookeeper for 17 years, Loren now serves as the Chapter Development Manager for the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK). Additionally, through the Katie Adamson Conservation Fund (KACF), a conservation organization founded by a former coworker at the Denver Zoo, she serves as an Educator and the Event Coordinator for the organization's main fundraising gala, Katie's Night.

Loren was still a hoofstock keeper when she became a mom, and we reminisce about her pregnancies, maternity leaves, first visitors at the hospital after giving birth (hers were zookeeper friends!), and her postpartum periods.

We then talk about her transition out of animal care into her current roles. She loves that the roles she has now have allowed her to stay connected to the zoo field, but admits it was hard to leave and came with many emotions!

Finally, we talk about conservation traveling for extended periods of time and how Loren and her family prep for her to be gone and communicate while she is away.

Check out the links below for more info about the two organizations mentioned in this episode:

American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK)

Katie Adamson Conservation Fund (KACF)

Mothering Wildlife links:
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Instagram @motheringwildlife
Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms!

This week I talk to Briana Schmidt, a Lead Aquarist at the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. Briana offers the "wet perspective" of being a working mom in the zoo and aquarium field. My guests are often of the "terrestrial" sort and today Briana and I dive in to what it is like to be an aquarist and a mom.

Briana gives us the low down on what it's like to work as a pregnant aquarist and how hard it was for her to not be in the water at work while she was pregnant. We even discuss, at length, maternity clothes and the struggles of finding what to wear when there is a uniform policy! Why don't maternity pants have pockets or belt loops! Side note, Briana came up with a great solution to this challenge.

Briana also discusses her postpartum life and how hard it is to have a newborn and feeling like you're not sure what to do; feeling hypervigilant but super tired and how most of us look back on that time and don't even recognize ourselves in that version of us.

Finally, we talk about the realities of our schedules in this field and how she tries to think of her time with her son as quality over quantity to help her get through those times when she is feeling sad about how much she works and how little times she feels like she has with her family.

Mothering Wildlife links:
Facebook MotheringWildlifePodcast
Instagram @motheringwildlife
Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

Click here to send me a text! Have a story to share or just want to chat? Let's connect - because moms need moms!

My guest this week is Jessica Lelesch, the lead keeper over the Akrons Zoo's hoofstock and primate team.

Like the episode title suggests, Jessica and I talk about a variety of subjects that all lead into living a new “norm” once you become a mother…and especially a working mother!

Jessica and I talk about having babies during COVID, when your birth plan doesn’t go as planned, and the feelings surrounding going back to work after maternity leave; all topics that definitely require you to learn how to adjust to new routines and new norms.

Mothering Wildlife links:
Facebook MotheringWildlifePodcast
Instagram @motheringwildlife
Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com